A Holiday Mission
by Thomas Linquist
Summary: Season's Greetings!  A little gift from an unexpected source makes the world a bit brighter.


**A Holiday Mission**

Happy Holidays everyone. Just a little something to kill some time while I do some thinking on other things. It's been a while since I've written anything, so I figured a quick one-shot was as good a place to start as any.

Law requires that I remind you that I don't own any of the characters from the Kim Possible cartoon series. I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

* * *

Things were quiet in the Children's wing of Middleton Memorial Hospital. There were only a handful of nurses making their rounds. It was late at night, so every child, with the exception of the odd feverish infant, was sound asleep. Nobody noticed a hand poke around the corner with a compact mirror.

"Okay, the camera is swinging toward us now. When I give the word, Ron, we have to get across the corridor and behind a low desk."

The security camera finished its sweep across the corridor and began to go back, away from the entrance. A teenage girl and boy crept across the floor, loaded with a couple bags of parcels. The girl moved with the grace of a dance, her steps not making a single noise on the polished surface. The young man at her back tried to mimic her silence, but his sneakers squeaked just a tiny bit on the tile. He winced when his companion looked back at him.

"Head in the game, Ron!" she whispered. "We're supposed to be sneaking in here, remember?"

"Sorry, won't happen again!"

They had made the cover and, according to the reconnaissance data they had collected a couple of days previously, they would not be seen, unless something unexpected happened. The whole mission had been planned down to the second, with as many variables as the computer models could possibly take into consideration. Sure, they had been pulling this stunt off successfully since they were thirteen, but it always paid to keep fresh on the details. A lot rode on the actions that the two teens would take that night.

Ron poked his head carefully into the first room. There were three beds in it, two of which were occupied by young girls, sleeping soundly. One had her arm in a cast and one leg splinted. The other was hooked up to an I.V unit, which was delivering some medication to the pale form under the covers. The third bed was empty. He looked over at his friend and held up two fingers, and held up his hand in the agreed upon signal for female.

Reaching into her bag, the girl took two neatly wrapped packages out, and held them next to the floor in front of her. Meanwhile, the boy slowly slithered his way into the room. When he was between the two occupied beds, she slid the gifts toward him, her gifted eyes landing them securely in his hands. Silently, he reached up and placed a gift on the foot of each bed. Just as he had entered, Ron left the room. It was almost as if he were floating across the floor. Years as an underdog in Middleton High School had given him practice at being unnoticed. One could imagine the bullies of hall G standing around, not seeing him creeping past.

Moving across the hall, the pair delivered another set of gifts, this time to one boy and one girl. There was a tense moment as the boy stirred in his sleep. The young woman waiting in the corridor held her breath for a moment, but she knew that Ron would pull it off. He had done amazing things while running these clandestine assignments with her. Nobody else had ever managed to look past his nerdy exterior to find out just what he was made of. She wasn't about to tell anybody either! He was hers, and all hers!

As they were headed for the third room on the ward, there was a sudden noise from behind them. In a mad panic, they opened the first door they could find. Fortunately, one of the janitorial staff had accidentally left a supply closet unlocked. It wasn't roomy, but they squeezed in, winding up face to face. They held their breath as the nurse walked by. In the dark of the closet, each held out a hand to the other, in a gesture that they would never share in front of their fellow students.

It was as well that they couldn't see each other. She was swallowing nervously, the way she always did when he happened to make contact with her. He was turning an interesting shade of red under his freckles.

When the steps had passed, and a quick count to ten, and the teens slipped back out of the closet.

"Let's get back at it. This is a mission, remember?"

Room by room, the duo made their rounds, spreading just a little bit of cheer to children who were stuck in the hospital when they wanted nothing more than to be at home with family. Aside from the one near catastrophe, things went smoothly. With empty sacks, they waited for the opening in the hospital security system and sneaked their way out the same door they had entered. Another mission completed. On Christmas morning, the children would each wake to a toy, and nurses would try to explain to security that they had seen nothing, and could not explain who could have done it, or how they could have gotten there.

As the sun was starting to rise, Ron stopped his father's car outside the upscale house of his secret girlfriend and co-conspirator.

"Well, we did it another year. Can you imagine what would happen if anyone ever figured out we pulled this one off?"

"Look, I've told you before, I will not play second fiddle to little miss perfect and her goofy boyfriend. There is no way I'm going to ruin a reputation four years in the making. It's hard enough keeping the fact that we're together under wraps. It violates every rule in the food chain." Bonnie grabbed his hand. "You have to promise to keep this secret for me.

Ron Reger gave his girl a light kiss and wished her a merry Christmas.


End file.
